Thursday, November 6, 1997 Published at 17:44 GMTWorld: EuropeGermany can't decide if Scientology is a religion

A federal court in Germany has failed to reach a verdict on whether or not
Scientology can be considered a religion.

The verdict was sought after a
regional court in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg ruled in July that the
status of Scientology had to be to be legally determined before the
organisation could be deprived of the tax and other priviliges that go with
religious status.

But the federal administrative court in Berlin has now
referred the case back to the regional court. The German authorities have taken
measures to combat the influence of Scientolgy.

They argue that it is a
business operation with dangerous anti-democratic tendencies.

But the
Scientologists say they are a religious organisation which is being
discriminated against. The issue has strained Germany's relations with the
United States, where Scientology has strong support.